Boeing 737-200 'Holiday Jets'

[Mooncrest]

In the 1970s and '80s, which European airlines flew these to the Mediterranean and other holiday areas ? I can think of (in no particular order):

Britannia Airways
Dan Air
Monarch Airlines
Maersk
Orion Airways
Aer Lingus
Braathens
Air Europe
Condor
Spantax
Hispania
British Airtours
Hapag Lloyd
Transavia
Trans European Airways
Aviogenex
TAP Air Portugal
Air Atlantis
Luxair
Mey Air
Air Malta
Air UK Leisure

Any more ?

[GBYAJ]

In the 1970s and '80s, which European airlines flew these to the Mediterranean and other holiday areas ? I can think of (in no particular order):

Britannia Airways
Dan Air
Monarch Airlines
Maersk
Orion Airways
Aer Lingus
Braathens
Air Europe
Condor
Spantax
Hispania
British Airtours
Hapag Lloyd
Transavia
Trans European Airways
Aviogenex
TAP Air Portugal
Air Atlantis
Luxair
Mey Air
Air Malta
Air UK Leisure

Any more ?

quite comprehensive already!

Airways International Cymru
IEA
amber airways
paramount (following take over of amber)

[Mooncrest]

Thankyou BYAJ. I'd forgotten about Cymru and Amberair. I knew IEA had a small fleet of -200s but not sure if they were around in the 1980s.

[treadigraph]

That's a fairly comprehensive list of European 737 operators in to which I'd add BA, Olympic, Lufthansa, Air France and Sabena, though whether they fully fit your holiday criteria I'm not sure!

[Mooncrest]

Maybe not Sabena but certainly Sobelair, their charter associate. Should also mention Caledonian, British Airtours' successor. I don't know if Air France and Lufthansa ever involved themselves with this sort of business, likely leaving it to the likes of Air Charter, Euralair and Condor.

I did fly on an Olympic 732 to Heraklion in 1990...but only from Athens. I don't know if this fleet ventured beyond the south east Mediterranean.

[Liffy 1M]

You could add Pan Am and Air Berlin, both of whom operated from Berlin. I certainly saw Pan Am 737s at Palma, operating charters at weekends. French operator Euralair acquired several early 737-200s and I imagine flew holiday charters.

[ajdm]

Sabre Airways & Busy Bee?

[thegypsy]

Orion's 737s were _300s not 200s

[22/04]

Orion's 737s were _300s not 200s

They had both.

[thegypsy]

Yes you are right sorry. Was thinking when Britannia took over the Brownies they came with just 300s I seem to remember ?

[bean]

Which Britannia got rid of smartish

[Eagles Forever]

Yes you are right sorry. Was thinking when Britannia took over the Brownies they came with just 300s I seem to remember ?
And A300s !

[Mooncrest]

Thankyou for your continuing contributions all. It seems like anyone who had a 732 was fair game for this market, unless they specifically chose to exclude themselves. Pan Am at Palma alongside Dan Air and Spantax isn't easy to picture.

[WHBM]

Thankyou for your continuing contributions all. It seems like anyone who had a 732 was fair game for this market, unless they specifically chose to exclude themselves. Pan Am at Palma alongside Dan Air and Spantax isn't easy to picture.
I recall multiple Pan Am 737s at Palma from Berlin on a Saturday as well. The internal German flights reduced notably at weekends and having the aircraft to hand at Berlin slotted in nicely. For some reason the German market never went for the UK tradition of fully overnight flights (depart 11pm, Med destination in the small hours, back at 6am), and so they did mass departures on the nose of 6am when their airports opened (of course, by the time the UK 8am departures were coached to the beach, all the sunbeds were gone ... :) )..

Regarding the charter "offshoots" of mainstream scheduled carriers, these often used mainline aircraft and crews, the charter arm being more for marketing. I certainly went on "Austrian Air Transport" on a 'student charter' (a whole separate topic of the era in itself), Gatwick to Vienna, and everything was just a straightforward Austrian Airlines DC9, operating in marginal time. BEA/British Airtours was a bit of an exception to this, although off-season a lot of their capacity went the other way and could be seen at Heathrow on schedules.

[Mooncrest]

I trust Boeing was very grateful to Britannia for many years for leading the way with the 732, although it was another ten years before another British charter airline - Air Europe - was to order the type. Dan Air, Monarch and British Airtours were still flying Comets, 1-11s, Boeing 720s and 707s and Orion was still a couple more years away.

Speaking of airline charter arms, I flew to and from Ljubljana in 1986 with Air Yugoslavia. We were on a 727 both ways and, apart from the 'JR' prefix and the 'Yugair' RT callsign, it was JAT Yugoslav Airlines. Obviously, some airlines decided to put a little more distance between themselves and their charter cousins, e.g. Lufthansa with Condor and Sabena with Sobelair.

[Musket90]

Peach Air ?

[Musket90]

Just thought of another, Ambassador Airways who had two which transferred to Sabre after their demise.

[teusje]

Aviogenex?

[thegypsy]

The topic was B737/200s not A300 or B737/300s which Britannia inherited from the Brownies after the take over. (Yes take over not merger) despite the outrageous merging of seniority .

[GBYAJ]

The original list seemed to cover most. Surprising there are so few really. Some of the later ones that i mentioned only had 1 732. Tried hard think of others but 737-300’s and Md83’s were popular by 85 onwards.

Similar experience with JAT, only ref to Air Yugoslavia was at Dbv airport. Even the crew said it was a “YAT flight” in between cigs…….

Air Belgium - 1 732, 1 733 IIRC!

[Mooncrest]

Air Belgium, of course. OO-PLH, sometimes wore her own livery, sometimes that of America West. Sometimes she even flew for Air Belgium rather than subbing for somebody else.

I think Sabre and Peach Air were both post-1990. I'm not sure about Ambassador but I think G-BFVA and VB were common factors here! Might have been BECG and CH. All Britannia cast-offs anyways.

What an incredibly successful aeroplane it was. Interesting that Britannia didn't go for the -300 (and -500) until much later, the Orion aircraft notwithstanding.

[WHBM]

Braathens was another pioneer with the 737, which was used on a mixture of Norwegian trunk domestics and runs to the Mediterranean, taking over from a DC-6B fleet. I think at one stage they had the highest hourly utilisation of any 737 operator.

[NG1]

Lauda Air operated briefly one 737-200, leased from Transavia. OE-ILE.

[Clueless In CLK]

Europe Air Services
Eurolair
TAT
Air Mediteraine
AOM
GB Airways
Air Belgium
Air Liberte
ICS/Air Inter

[TCU]

European Aviation operated a -200 on behalf of Bournemouth based Palmair

The Braathens -200's mentioned by WHBM and those of Busy Bee mentioned by adjm, were both regulars at STN in the late 70's on the Sunday morning/evening Scandi charters

[N707ZS]

Did the British Airways 200s make it to the Med resorts.

There was also about three or four French 200s F-GCSL being one that changed company's for various reasons. One being Euralair.

And more company's in Spain.

[GBYAJ]

Did the British Airways 200s make it to the Med resorts.

There was also about three or four French 200s F-GCSL being one that changed company's for various reasons. One being Euralair.

And more company's in Spain.

yes for a number of years the BA737 that night stopped in NCl went to PMI, ibZ and Gro over the weekend. I think the 757’s at BFS, GLA and MAN may have done the same.

[WHBM]

yes for a number of years the BA737 that night stopped in NCL went to PMI, IBZ and GRO over the weekend.
This was a longstanding hangover from the days when BKS/Northeast was a (semi) independent carrier, and had contracts with Airways Holidays, who were the principal regional tour company in Newcastle. The Northeast Tridents there were used in the same way, scheduled trunk runs to London, along with night/weekend holiday charters.

In recent times BA Cityflyer have got into a similar market with their Embraers; returning from Palma a few years ago to London City it was quite a surprise to find no less than four of the BA E190s lined up together on the remote stands there, holiday charters to Glasgow/Edinburgh etc.

[GBLDE]

I remember BA 757's at weekends in summer at NCL used to do charters to Spain overnight, but i don't remember any BA 737-200's doing the same. DAN had one 737-200 based at NCL flying charters for many years on behalf of Intasun ,until 1990 when two DAN 737-400's took over.

[GBYAJ]

I remember BA 757's at weekends in summer at NCL used to do charters to Spain overnight, but i don't remember any BA 737-200's doing the same. DAN had one 737-200 based at NCL flying charters for many years on behalf of Intasun ,until 1990 when two DAN 737-400's took over.

G-BLDE the NCL based DA 737, it’s the identity I always wanted!! 1990 remained G-BLDE and a 737-400, 1991 2x 737-400 and a 727-200 and then 2.5 737-400’s in 1992.

the BA 737’s did do this 86, 87 at least and then perhaps not after the recession of 88 when loads of lights were cut back. Not sure when they started. The 757 didn’t night stop until the end of the 80’s.

[Flightrider]

I recall the BA 757s doing a lot of overnight charters (mostly for Intasun) as the British Midland DC9 did at Teesside and the Dan-Air 146s also did at Newcastle. However I can't remember any BA 737-200 overnight charter operations at Newcastle or anywhere else.

The ex-Britannia Ambassador / Sabre / Peach duo were G-BAZH and G-BFVB which were both later re-registered as they moved through life.

Amber Air / Paramount had ex-Britannia G-BOSA (which was G-BAZI with Airways Cymru in a previous life) and G-BKMS which was an Orion aircraft.

[SpringHeeledJack]

I recall multiple Pan Am 737s at Palma from Berlin on a Saturday as well. The internal German flights reduced notably at weekends and having the aircraft to hand at Berlin slotted in nicely. For some reason the German market never went for the UK tradition of fully overnight flights (depart 11pm, Med destination in the small hours, back at 6am), and so they did mass departures on the nose of 6am when their airports opened (of course, by the time the UK 8am departures were coached to the beach, all the sunbeds were gone ... https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/smile.gif )..


The ever logical thinking Teutons knew that some sleep was worth more than as good as no sleep when heading off on a beach holiday, so would never entertain a short/middle haul overnight flight. By doing so you effectively 'lose' the first day as you're so shattered to only want to sleep in your hotel, though some hardy youngsters could do it on the beach. No, the Germans prefer to go to bed early, get up early, catch a 6am flight (when most German airports allow flights due to noise) and arrive in the Med 2+hrs later ready to enjoy that all important first day. The way home is less important, just an easy day to re-acquaint oneself with home and shopping for provisions before heading back to work the next morning, early of course ;-)

I think it's almost impossible to add any more 737-200's to the list outside of main airline aircraft doing charters at the weekend or ad-hoc. Did anyone mention Aer Lingus's 732's doing charters to the near Med or religious pilgramage sites ?

[WHBM]

I recall the BA 757s doing a lot of overnight charters (mostly for Intasun) Wonder if these were British Airtours 757s, same livery, just different titles. Although Intasun had ownership of Air Europe, they were also British Airtours' largest charterer, and owner Harry Goodman was known for waiting until after the prime rotations were sold, then picking up all the residue at lower prices, particularly the overnights. There was quite some cross-relationship between Air Europe and British Airtours (and mainline BA), with aircraft going back and forth.

[spekesoftly]

I believe Air Europe also had a brief aircraft sharing arrangement with Air Florida. I've a vague recollection of being mildly surprised at seeing a B737-200 in Air Florida colours at Gatwick in the early 1980s.

[WHBM]

I believe Air Europe also had a brief aircraft sharing arrangement with Air Florida. I've a vague recollection of being mildly surprised at seeing a B737-200 in Air Florida colours at Gatwick in the early 1980s.
These arrangements have long been extensive with US and Canadian operators, and indeed continue to quite an extent, but started with the 737-200. basically, holiday flights from the north to Florida/Caribbean etc peak in the winter; in the summer they tend to go to their cabin in the woods closer to home. This is opposite seasonality to the European operators, of course, so various leasing deals have been arranged over time, back and forth, some quite extensive involving multiple aircraft. The Americans think the Brits going on holiday to Florida in the August heat are mad !

Even Court Line did it in the early 1970s with their One-Eleven 500s, sending a couple over to Caribbean operator LIAT, which they had a part ownership of, in the winter.

[condor17]

Looking at logbook , BA mainline did 732 charters from Berlin TXL to Med destinations over w/es when IGS business routes less busy . BA Airtours could be backed up at w/es with extra 732s popped over from LHR to LGW [ Friday night special , pop one over at end of a tour , MT back ].
Whilst Airtours LGW posted , we had BHX or Leeds tours , occaisionally MAN [ mainly covered by MAN based crews ] .
Night charters from shuttle destinations went from T3s to 75s. 732s not normally on Shuttle dest. night stops , as bigger capacities needed .
Some early BA 75s got sold on to Air Europe [ with some crews volunteered for some months ], and leased back when charters less busy . Into '90s we had some 75 tours ex LGW. don't think they were charters .
Caledonian [ YDA Yellow Dog Airways , and succesor to BA airtours ] had up to 6 75s in their own colours .

rgds condor .

[Mooncrest]

SpringheeledJack. Yes, I mentioned the Aer Lingus 737s in my opening post. I gather they also used to send their 707s and 747s to the Mediterranean when they weren't crossing the Atlantic or flying for another airline, as they often were. I don't know if their 1-11s got a slice of the Mediterranean market; Autair, BUA-Caledonian, Airways Cymru and others did.

Which reminds me, although the 732 was clearly the king of the Med thirty-plus years ago, let us not forget the other aeroplanes that were heavily involved too. The Viscount and Britannia, the DC6, the 707/720 and 727, the BAC1-11, the DC8, DC9 and DC10 and the TU134 and TU154. Lockheed TriStar. Then came the later marks of the 737, the 757 and 767 and Airbuses of many kinds. And the MD80 series.

[treadigraph]

Comet and Caravelle as well.

[brakedwell]

I believe Air Europe also had a brief aircraft sharing arrangement with Air Florida. I've a vague recollection of being mildly surprised at seeing a B737-200 in Air Florida colours at Gatwick in the early 1980s.

In 1981 we had one Air Florida B737 on loan from Air Florida flown by AE crews, which was N54AF. I think they had two of our 737s for two winters. Regarding the B757s,, we had one AE aircraft, GBKRM and a leased BA 757, GBPGW, for the first summer. BA also provided 6 crews who were integrated with AE crews for the first two summers of 83 & 84. I don't have a photos of the Air Florida 737, but her are some others.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1250/screenshot_2019_01_12_at_17_38_16_copy_c3647c19bc3c6f131de50 b4c0f7f19343eb4a354.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x530/gbikf_malaga_jul_1983_9352377f6102643df6eb42f8d8886cc2fc16d7 a4.jpeg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1190/screen_shot_2016_01_10_at_11_24_49_copy_a6aa8d11c3af33175460 01f8062093ea44d142dc.jpg

for the first two summers of 83 & 84. I don't have a photos of the Air Florida 737, but her are some others.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1212/screenshot_2019_01_12_at_17_41_54_copy_a3ef9cabe4615ac986abf d3a9dfa4f6751946870.jpg

[WHBM]

In 1981 we had one Air Florida B737 on loan from Air Florida flown by AE crews, which was N54AF.

Can I ask how that works, with an N-reg aircraft operating with UK crews. It appears to have operated in 1981 under an N-reg, when it came back for summer 1982 it was re-reg in the UK for the duration as G-BJXM.

Still around by the way, on a plinth as a centrepiece for a shopping centre attraction in Indonesia

Albaik - Google Maps (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Albaik/@-7.306405,108.2495113,194m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x2e6f5ba0772b3f05:0xe1ac85abc10fe2b 5!8m2!3d-7.3064284!4d108.2494611)

[brakedwell]

WHBM
We were given temporary American ALTPs to fly the aircraft. I can't remember if we had a second year with an Air Florida aircraft, it was a long time ago..

[SpringHeeledJack]

I remember the Air Florida 732's, they had a blue and green tail insignia that then ran along the fuselage, or vice-versa depending on your way of looking.

In the above post of LGW photos, in the background of the third photo there's two white DC-8's with blue cheat lines with an Air Zimbabwe 707 sandwiched between them.. Anyone know whose they were ? Always seemed sunny back then, even if that was far from the truth....

[brakedwell]

The two DC8s belonged to IAS Cargo Airlines, headquartered at Horley, which I flew before joining Air Europe.

[Double Hydco]

the above post of LGW photos, in the background of the third photo there's two white DC-8's with blue cheat lines with an Air Zimbabwe 707 sandwiched between them.. Anyone know whose they were

They look like Worldways Canada to me?

[treadigraph]

Worldways, yes. On the left hand side of the pic there's another DC-8 behind the Orion 737 - is that Rich International?

[OvertHawk]

Peach Air ?

Was Peach Air not a reincarnation of Sabre after they went bust?

Remember Sabre then Peach doing bucket and spade flights from NWI in the mid/late 90's.

Seemed to have a habit of pitching up with u/s APU's thus requiring air starts from the ground rig.

[ATNotts]

Worldways, yes. On the left hand side of the pic there's another DC-8 behind the Orion 737 - is that Rich International?

Certainly is Rich International. Just seeing those tail colours remind me of the time when at MIA and I got on to the Rich ramp in the days of the C46s and DC6s. A lovely, if by the time of the DC8s somewhat dated livery. If I recall correctly the Rich DC8s did a season operating from various UK airports, possible to Orlando?

[Mooncrest]

One of the Air Florida 732s ended up with Dan Air for a spell in 1986; either BJXL or BJXM. She still wore the blue stripey bit of the Air Florida livery plus the uncircled compass and pennant on the tailfin. I remember this particular aircraft used to frequently turn up at Leeds Bradford during the 1986-87 winter season, I think on Intasun duty.

Going back to what treadigraph said about the Comet and Caravelle on Mediterranean charters, I know there were no UK-registered Caravelles but there were certainly Comets from BEA/BEA Airtours, Channel and Dan Air out there. Most likely the same actual aircraft over a number of years. Caravelles came from Transavia, Air Charter, SAT Flug, Istanbul Airlines, Hispania and Aero Lloyd, among others.

[SWBKCB]

SpringheeledJack. Yes, I mentioned the Aer Lingus 737s in my opening post. I gather they also used to send their 707s and 747s to the Mediterranean when they weren't crossing the Atlantic or flying for another airline, as they often were. I don't know if their 1-11s got a slice of the Mediterranean market; Autair, BUA-Caledonian, Airways Cymru and others did.

Which reminds me, although the 732 was clearly the king of the Med thirty-plus years ago, let us not forget the other aeroplanes that were heavily involved too. The Viscount and Britannia, the DC6, the 707/720 and 727, the BAC1-11, the DC8, DC9 and DC10 and the TU134 and TU154. Lockheed TriStar. Then came the later marks of the 737, the 757 and 767 and Airbuses of many kinds. And the MD80 series.

154's to the Med?

[treadigraph]

There were certainly quite a few Caravelle regulars in a Gatwick in the '70s, others included SATA, Aviaco (I think?), SAM and at least two other Italian and Spanish operators whose names escape me.

One oddity I recall was a Midwest Air Charter Caravelle, N901MW or N902MW I think, trailing down Green 1 from Strumble to Dover - must have been about 1980. Think it's callsign was the registration.

[Mooncrest]

154's to the Med?

I am admittedly stretching the truth there. For Mediterranean, read Black Sea.

As well as the Air Florida supplementals, Air Europe also operated G-BKRO during summer 1983. An ex-Maersk aircraft leased from GPA. A bit like the Dan Air aircraft I mentioned above, this one was another LBA regular, from and to Palma just about every Sunday. It must have liked short runways!

EDIT: Apparently BKRO had the -17 engines whereas Air Europe's own aircraft had the -15.

[TCU]

154's to the Med?
Now hopelessly off topic, but Greenair from Turkey operated 3 x 154's and certainly flew to Gatwick in early 90's.....now back to the -200....

[Pat UK]

Thankyou BYAJ. I'd forgotten about Cymru and Amberair. I knew IEA had a small fleet of -200s but not sure if they were around in the 1980s.

IEA started in 87 with one -200 for the summer only, wef 88 they operated -300's, not sure that Paramount operated -200, I recall them operating an Ansett Leasing owned -300 but I don't recall a -200.

[GBYAJ]

IEA started in 87 with one -200 for the summer only, wef 88 they operated -300's, not sure that Paramount operated -200, I recall them operating an Ansett Leasing owned -300 but I don't recall a -200.

g-bkms, 1989 after they bought amber air.

200 was based MAN
300 G-PATE based NCl

The year didn’t end well for old Paramount though….

[Pat UK]

How about GB Airways?

[Pat UK]

g-bkms, 1989 after they bought amber air.

200 was based MAN
300 G-PATE based NCl

The year didn’t end well for old Paramount though….


G-PATE ended up being chartered by the Queensland government for sub-contracting with Ansett, Ansett the sub-contractor and also the aircraft owner, not surprisingly G-PATE never made it back from Oz.

[Musket90]

A few B737-200 Gatwick photos from late 70's to early 80's. The Air Liberia one would probably not be called a "holiday jet".
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/640x480/img_8426_d5f327386b0edcafc17f8ed50aa33ca7ea3a6fdd.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_8448_a3b73d910b2b820a1aff222c1fd9bcf8066c89c1.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_8462_e8a72a26711631e7b72689c93d996f207acb48fd.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_8522_b348ba37b4c95ad9c00356196a43d4c915b489ff.jpg

[Mooncrest]

How about GB Airways?
I honestly don't know what Gibair was up to in the 1970s and 1980s, apart from flying at least one Viscount and one 737 between Gibraltar, Tangiers and Gatwick. I do know that by the summer of 1994, GB Leisure was established as a charter offshoot, based at Gatwick with two ex-Britannia 732s, BECG and BECH. I don't know if they had any other 732s. Sunseeker Leisure at Leeds Bradford used one of the aircraft for its Malta flights before TransLift came along with their A320.

[WHBM]

What a lot of recollections since I last looked in !
Certainly is Rich International. Just seeing those tail colours remind me of the time when at MIA and I got on to the Rich ramp in the days of the C46s and DC6s. A lovely, if by the time of the DC8s somewhat dated livery. If I recall correctly the Rich DC8s did a season operating from various UK airports, possible to Orlando?
Rich did indeed run their DC8s through various UK airports in the "early" days of Florida, generally on contract to Air Florida who did an exponential expansion across the Atlantic for a short while, until bust followed boom. Air Florida only had DC-10s for long haul, so contracted them in on thinner routes and/or in the low season. Like most US charter/supplemental long haulers, much of Rich's work came from the US military, such as over to Germany. They later moved on to Tristars.

GB Airways, from Gibraltar ("Gibair"), had long had a close association with BA, leasing one of their Viscounts for the hop across the straits, but suddenly developed a substantial operation out of Gatwick, firstly to Gibraltar of course, and then both schedules and charters to various Mediterranean points. They were an early BA franchise operator, in BA full colours, and later moved on from 737s to a substantial A320 fleet. I believe they never made any money from it (bit of a Gatwick recurring story), and the owners eventually sold out to Easyjet.

Midwest Air Charter were a US operator for the overnight package companies, they used Caravelles, no cargo door, on the work. Built up quite a fleet but didn't last too long. I would guess one coming over the Atlantic was coming for a maintenance check. Caravelles would come through Gatwick from time to time, but not too many. SATA from Switzerland were a regular with student charters, Aviaco and Transeuropa both did work, especially cheap overnights, for the Intasun/Goodman business which was left over from Air Europe - Transeuropa had a couple of the very rare Caravelle 11R with a big forward cargo door, which they stripped the seats from in the off season when no holiday passengers were offered to bring in cargo, in particular early Spring potatoes from the Canary Islands. Potatoes airfreighted in a Caravelle ? No, I am not making this up :)

[dixi188]

Arkia from Israel used to overnight at Gatwick about '81 or '82 with 737-200s. They had a vortex destroyer pipe below the engine intake for operation from unpaved runways. For security they were parked outside BCAL hangars.

[jetstream7]

A few more airlines from the 1980s...

Aerotour from France - a couple of 737-200 for a just a few months in 1980
Air Sul from Portugal - started operations at the very end of 1989 with a 737 leased from Britannia AW
Eagle Air of Iceland - several aircraft flown at various points from 1982 onwards, including leasing to Britannia AW
Rotterdam Airlines from Holland - another short lived airline, but unsure whether they were mostly scheduled or charter
Transwede from Sweden - used 737s from 1989

If we're including Turkey, then there are the following
Istanbul Airlines (a single 737-400 ! - does this count?)
Sultan Air

There may be more out there...

[Flightrider]

Paramount ended up with both of the AmberAir 737-200s and their own 737-300 (G-PATE) which was based at Newcastle. They had four MD83s as well in that final year in which their bank account was emptied and ILG had to prop them up to complete the summer flying programme rather than see the airline collapse mid-way through the summer.

GB Airways leased a 737 from Britannia for a weekly Gibraltar flight for many years through the mid 1980s before they obtained their own 737-200s and the relationship with BA really moved on. It made substantial money for a few years but the timing of the sale by Bland Group to easyJet was probably one of the better outcomes in aviation history for airline owners. They got out at a good time just before the market chaos, fuel prices and mass bankruptcies that followed in 2008. It was certainly one of the more astute pieces of Gatwick history, especially when compared to the likes of BIA turning down a take-over offer from Air Europe largely based on the value of Gatwick slots, only for BIA to fail within 18 months.

[Sotonsean]

Was Peach Air not a reincarnation of Sabre after they went bust?

Remember Sabre then Peach doing bucket and spade flights from NWI in the mid/late 90's.

Seemed to have a habit of pitching up with u/s APU's thus requiring air starts from the ground rig.

To answer your question....No Peach Air was not a reincarnation of Sabre.

Peach Air started operations in 1997 and was taken over by JMC Airlines in 1999.

Peach Air operated four aircraft, two Boeing 737-200 and two Lockheed L1011, none of which saw further flying with JMC Airlines.

Sabre started operations in 1994 and was taken over by Excel Airways in 2001.

Sabre Airlines two original Boeing 737-200 aircraft which were both leased went onto Peach Air in 1997. The two Boeing 737-200 in question were, G-SBEA delivered in April 1997 and G-SBEB delivered in January 1997.

Sabre operated Boeing 727-200, Boeing 737-200, Boeing 737-800, but not simultaneously.
Sabre was the first UK airline to operate the Boeing 737-800 with the initial aircraft being delivered to the airline in January 2000.

[Sotonsean]

Maybe not Sabena but certainly Sobelair, their charter associate. Should also mention Caledonian, British Airtours' successor. I don't know if Air France and Lufthansa ever involved themselves with this sort of business, likely leaving it to the likes of Air Charter, Euralair and Condor.

I did fly on an Olympic 732 to Heraklion in 1990...but only from Athens. I don't know if this fleet ventured beyond the south east Mediterranean.

Olympic Airways certainly operated their Boeing 737-200's beyond the south east Mediterranean.

In the early to mid eighties when Olympic Airways withdrew their fleet of Boeing 720's the airline operated their Boeing 737-200 aircraft on the summer only schedule from London Heathrow to Thessaloniki. At the same time Olympic Airways also flew a summer seasonal scheduled flight from London Heathrow to Corfu which was operated by their Airbus A300's.

Olympic Airways Boeing 737's we're often seen at northern European airports such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Geneva, London Heathrow, Paris CDG.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/500x329/51143623374_72ce66c32e_956c027d28c1a3f65a2d9ec16f5103828d188 57e.jpg
Olympic Airways Boeing 737-284 SX-BCI at London Heathrow Airport in July 1986.

[SpringHeeledJack]

A few B737-200 Gatwick photos from late 70's to early 80's. The Air Liberia one would probably not be called a "holiday jet".

Back then it was a different place, the instability that has plagued Liberia since the early 80's wasn't in full swing and the class with money and power still had it relatively good. I met a black English DJ in a hotel disco in Bangkok in 85, who had just come from a 6-month stint in the top nightclub in Monrovia and he said it was amazing, a crazy place for party people. Perhaps the Air Liberia flights were bringing adventurous travellers out during the season. All the same, that's a long flight in a 737.

[Pat UK]

Dassault Mercures would have been operating to/from the French Mediterranean

[SpringHeeledJack]

They did do some flights into LHR subbing for Air France here and there, but Air Inter's Mercure aircraft did the Paris Orly-Nice and Marseille routes until the A300's took over. These were just internal trunk routes rather than holiday flights. I flew in one a bit later between Paris Orly and Avignon just before they were retired and sent out to various museums.

[SWBKCB]

A few more airlines from the 1980s...

Aerotour from France - a couple of 737-200 for a just a few months in 1980
Air Sul from Portugal - started operations at the very end of 1989 with a 737 leased from Britannia AW
Eagle Air of Iceland - several aircraft flown at various points from 1982 onwards, including leasing to Britannia AW
Rotterdam Airlines from Holland - another short lived airline, but unsure whether they were mostly scheduled or charter
Transwede from Sweden - used 737s from 1989

If we're including Turkey, then there are the following
Istanbul Airlines (a single 737-400 ! - does this count?)
Sultan Air

There may be more out there...

Abelag and Air Belgium - or were they one and the same?!

[WHBM]

They did do some flights into LHR subbing for Air France here and there, but Air Inter's Mercure aircraft did the Paris Orly-Nice and Marseille routes until the A300's took over. These were just internal trunk routes rather than holiday flights. I flew in one a bit later between Paris Orly and Avignon just before they were retired and sent out to various museums.
They also operated, around 1989, an Air France-badged/coded route from Paris to Gatwick. Given that they had the JT8D off the 737-200 and slightly looked like an oversized one as well, they possibly qualify for a peripheral mention here.

Might be their only international schedule for the grand fleet of 10 outside France. When Airbus first wanted to do the A320 there were several doubters who pointed to the Mercure and said it was the same size and would have the same sales fate.

You know the rest ...

[SpringHeeledJack]

Might be their only international schedule for the grand fleet of 10 outside France.

You might well be correct, but I have the inkling that they 'might' have been used on the Paris-Brussels and Paris-Geneva routes at one time. The Geneva route would've been technically an internal flight as it would have landed and taxied to the French side of the terminal. I liked the Mercure and subsequent visits to museums where they are resident, including internal tours, showed they were ahead of their time. Almost like the French Trident/VC-10 in respect of it's international appeal.

[Arthur Bellcrank]

Palm Air still used a 737-200 based at Hurn up to November 2008. Operated mainly to the Med, They later used a Astraeus -500 up to the point that they stopped trading in Oct 2010.

[Pat UK]

Aerosvit were still operating a B737-200, which would have served some Mediterranean destinations, until their bankruptcy in 2013.

[slowjet]

What a thread and what a drift, got me thinking of KLM DC4 but, Mooncrest, Air Florida XL also did a stint with Air Europe in, around 1984. Without log-book check, I think I would have flown it a few times and a mate of mine did the ferry trip over from Miami, via Goose to LGW at the start of the summer season. Didn't it crash with the icing problem in some river back in the USA after seeing time on the UK IT network summers ?

[treadigraph]

N62AF was the Potomac River crash Air Florida 737 - an ex United -222, I don't think it ever operated in Europe.

[Mooncrest]

IIRC, the Air Florida 732s that Air Europe and Dan Air borrowed were both the -2T4 variant.

[rog747]

737-200 charter jets

Air UK Leisure started with some -200's
I think GB Airways Leisure was mentioned
MEY AIR
TEA
TEA UK
Air Berlin USA
Luxair

Later years I think - all French... still using -200's
Euralair
aigle azur
corsair
ACI
EAS
Air Toulouse

[TCU]

N62AF was the Potomac River crash Air Florida 737 - an ex United -222, I don't think it ever operated in Europe.
COPA flight 201, a Boeing 737-204Adv, which crashed on 6th June 1992, was ex-Britannia G-BGYL, which would have carried many thousands of us on bucket and spade and snow plough runs before its untimely dive into the Panamanian jungle. I flew on her 10.02.83 LTN - GVA on my last school ski-trip (back on BFVB)

[WHBM]

Air UK Leisure started with some -200's

Like a number of the "captive" holiday flight divisions of mainstream carriers, they did substitute operations for their parent, especially in the off season.

I recall being at Stansted for an AirUK 146 to Edinburgh. This particular day it was being operated by one of their 737s. They must have had a separate AOC, and CAA rules require that pax are specifically told which AOC they are on. So there was a stack of leaflets to this effect being handed out at check-in, written in rather poor aviationese. In front of me were an elderly couple, also for Edinburgh. "Yeah, to Edinburgh, yeah. It's a Leisure flight today, yeah ...". Which of course was all complete double-dutch to them.

[rog747]

Like a number of the "captive" holiday flight divisions of mainstream carriers, they did substitute operations for their parent, especially in the off season.

I recall being at Stansted for an AirUK 146 to Edinburgh. This particular day it was being operated by one of their 737s. They must have had a separate AOC, and CAA rules require that pax are specifically told which AOC they are on.

Yes I guess so as Air UK leisure was a joint venture with the parent Co. Air UK, and with Viking (a seat broker)
In addition the 767-300ER purchase was a Unijet collaboration and these 767's never carried Air UK Leisure titles - They were just Leisure, when in 1993 the airline introduced two leased Boeing 767-300ER aircraft on behalf of tour operator Unijet.

Leisure International Airways
In 1996 the airline was completely sold to Unijet and was renamed Leisure International Airways and moved its main base to LGW.

[Flightrider]

There was a full winter season where the scheduled AirUK early morning LGW-EDI-GLA-LGW circular flight was operated by an Air UK Leisure 737 (which I think was a -400 by then) before it set off to the Canaries or wherever at about 1100.

Going back to an earlier topic, I've checked the schedule books for NCL for 1985 and 1988 and can find no record of BA operating IT charters overnight from there - which was what I thought. They were doing this from MAN, GLA, BFS and to a lesser extent EDI but there were no regular BA charters shown ex NCL. In 1985, the NCL-LHR service was a 737-200 on the Newcastle nightstop and a mix of 737-200s and 1-11-500s plus a Trident 3 each afternoon. By 1988 it was a 757 on the nightstop and evening up & back (where the Trident 3 used to be) and still 737-200s and 1-11-500s on the rest. Newcastle was one of the few (only?0 BA domestic destinations to regularly see the A320s and also the four 737-300s which BA leased from Maersk for a couple of years around 1990-1992.

[GBYAJ]

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1500x2000/ff7f2219_28f5_4bec_be86_4d6559781c32_e36d90a89082cf564ea9ede f6b8a0727160416e2.jpeg
NCL airport movements 1987. BA 737 from Palma first arrival
of the morning which is what I thought 😹

[GBYAJ]

BA 737’s from NCL. Airport Timetables UK which was the definitive source at the time definitely showed Friday to Gerona, Saturday Palma and Sunday Ibiza. Perhaps they didn’t operate but the above suggest they did.

[flash8]

154's to the Med?Not to the Med I'd imagine? but certainly to the Black Sea resorts, with Balkan on charter?

[Flightrider]

Must be true! I'd only got the 1982-85 and 1988-onwards books with gaps for 86 and 87 and this mayfly is from 1987. That's quite a Sunday - CalAir DC10, Air Atlantis, Adria, Aviogenex, Universair .... how times have changed.

[Sotonsean]

Not to the Med I'd imagine? but certainly to the Black Sea resorts, with Balkan on charter?

Slightly off topic, but.

​​Balkan Bulgarian Tupolev 134, Tupolev 154 to Burgas, Sofia and Varna
Tarom Tupolev 154, Ilyushin II-62, BAC 1-11, Boeing 707 to Bucharest and Constanta.

[WHBM]

Somehow the 727 and 737 threads seem to have been mixed up here !

Tarom Tupolev 154, Ilyushin II-62, BAC 1-11, Boeing 707 to Bucharest and Constanta.Sometimes all on the same series as loads rose and fell through the summer. Tarom seemed to enquire how many were booked and only send out an aircraft that was appropriate. Well into the 1980s you might even get an IL-18 turboprop for the first/last runs of the year.

[Senior Pilot]

Somehow the 727 and 737 threads seem to have been mixed up here !

What a pain!

I think I’ve transferred all relevant posts back and recreated the 727 thread, but if any posts here need shifting then please let me know and I’ll get it done next time I check in.

Apologies for the blunder: I’ll have the relevant Mod given night shift for the remainder of the month, pus a new pair of spectacles :rolleyes:

(He is recovering from a serious eye infection, and made a genuine mistake reading the thread titles :( )

[Mooncrest]

Thankyou, Senior Pilot.

Braathens and Mey Air were both early 732 customers. Were their aircraft the Advanced variant or the initial version ?

[diffident]

Can anyone enlighten me on the 737-200 that was leased from Britannia to Copa, that went down in the Amazon in the early 90's? It was featured on a BBC documentary at the time which I have on video tape, but was never able to identify the 737-200 involved?

[WHBM]

Can anyone enlighten me on the 737-200 that was leased from Britannia to Copa, that went down in the Amazon in the early 90's? It was featured on a BBC documentary at the time which I have on video tape, but was never able to identify the 737-200 involved?
It was G-BGYL, new to Britannia in 1980, so one of their newer ones, sold in April 1992 to COPA of Panama as HP1205, lost just 6 weeks later on 7 June 1992, in climbing out from Panama City, not the Amazon.

ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-204 Advanced HP-1205CMP Tucutí (aviation-safety.net) (https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19920606-0)

Control differences between Copa's established 737 fleet and the new acquisition were one of the issues identified.

[rog747]

Balkan and Sunquest Holidays were the Majors back then for the Black Sea resorts and IL-18's of both Bulair and Tarom were first used on those charters from the 1960's.
Tarom's charter arm LAR also used the BAC 1-11 400.
The other British Tour Operators used mainly Dan Air Comets.

[rog747]

Braathens and Mey Air were both early 732 customers. Were their aircraft the Advanced variant or the initial version ?


Braathens, and Britannia, both had at first from 1968 all early models and were not the ADV.

ADV models came along from Q2 1971 I think from c/n 400>

Mod kits and better engines, -9A or -15 were available for existing operators of the -200 to allow for performance improvements.
For the new model ADV other engines were optional JT8D-15 or from 1974 the -17

BY's new ADV models started from 1973 with G-BAD G-BAZ and G-BEC all with -15's, being the engine of choice for most charter airlines.

Mey Air ceased by 1974 - their 2 were ADV with -9A engines from Q4 1971

[WHBM]

Braathens ...
When I was in Edinburgh in the 1970s the university (and to a lesser extent the city) had a special relationship with Norway, and there were over 100 students from there.

Every start and end of term, Braathens did charters from Oslo to Edinburgh for them. At first it was one of their DC-6Bs, which had to do two round trips, and spent the best part of a day doing so. Eventually it was changed over to a 737, which just did one trip, sufficiently fast that it could be squeezed in between an early morning Norwegian domestic return pair and a late-lunchtime IT flight to Spain, the latter seeming to be pushed back a couple of hours. A very good example of the increase in efficiency the likes of a 737 brought along.

[GBYAJ]

Must be true! I'd only got the 1982-85 and 1988-onwards books with gaps for 86 and 87 and this mayfly is from 1987. That's quite a Sunday - CalAir DC10, Air Atlantis, Adria, Aviogenex, Universair .... how times have changed.

Quality not quantity back in the 80’s at NCL! Didn’t even notice the Cal Air DC10. Following year it didn’t operate though instead 4 x BY737’s (back on topic) flew to TFS over the weekend instead (Iirc).

from the 727 thread, remember going to the airport early Friday morning to see the TUR 727 and RAM 732 in 1990.

[rog747]

[QUOTE=Flightrider;11052625]
Quality not quantity back in the 80’s at NCL! Didn’t even notice the Cal Air DC-10. Following year it didn’t operate though instead 4 x BY737’s (back on topic) flew to TFS over the weekend instead.

The Following Summer 1988 posed huge changes at Cal Air (which was started in 1982 as BCAL Charter, jointly owned 50-50 by BCAL and Rank) as British Caledonian was bought by and merged into British Airways and Cal Air International was of no interest to British Airways who had their own Charter airline British Airtours

The Rank Organisation decided to buy the other 50% share making it their wholly owned Airline subsidiary.
This created a problem as the name 'Cal Air International' along with the Lion rampant logo on the tail, and its Air Hostesses wearing Tartan uniforms, was too close in image and style to the new British Airways Charter Airline Caledonian Airways (1988) which was now the new face of British Airtours

It was decided that the company would change its name and logo yet again. Various names were considered, however, it was set to become Novair International Airways
The livery was adapted to take in the new name and a huge blue shooting star was emblazoned on the tail fin. Call sign was STARJET
Novair went on to add 3 new Boeing 737-400 to its fleet of 3 DC-10's.

The airline was always fighting for Charter contracts, and was up against ever decreasing passenger numbers, in addition to which the Rank organisation was losing interest in its Travel/Aviation subsidiaries.
Unable to find a suitable buyer, Novair ceased operations on 31 March 1990 and was soon wound up.
The DC-10's going to FedEx and the 737's to British Midland.

The following year saw the failures of both Air Europe and BIA and ailing Dan Air was also soon bought and merged into British Airways.
Ironically BIA in 1989 were in serious negotiations to sell to ILG (Air Europe) but the deal fell through.
The 1990's depression, The Gulf War, and ever rising Jet Fuel prices all were major factors.

The UK Charter Airline industry had really started to change with only the Major players that would eventually be left in the field.

Today however, we see only only one of those left in the UK - TUI Airways - morphed from Britannia, Orion, Air 2000 and Leisure International.
XL Airways nee Sabre Airways, having already fallen in 2008, with Monarch to go under in 2017.
Both failures at the time much larger than the Court Line collapse in 1974.

Caledonian, Flying Colours, Airworld, Airtours International, IEA, Conair and Scanair having all morphed into Thomas Cook would spectacularly fail in 2019.
But, Condor, still a strong German brand managed yet again to survive, and Sunclass Airlines emerges from Thomas Scandinavia re-discovering its former Scanair roots and Viking identity.

[kenparry]

The aircraft that COPA crashed was leased from, not sold by, Britannia. I remember the event all too well. The company FSO went out to Panama to join the investigation, and came back with grim tales of arriving at the wreck in the jungle with the crew still in situ.

[Mooncrest]

I wondered about the Norwegian 732s as both airlines appeared at Leeds Bradford every now and then, before the runway extension was built. I don't know the destinations of either Braathens or Mey Air from LBA but I would guess not too far away for Braathens if they were flying early-build aircraft. Aer Lingus' early 737s were OK as they were only making the short flight to Dublin.

[TCU]

Not to the Med I'd imagine? but certainly to the Black Sea resorts, with Balkan on charter?
flash8....see my post nr.52.....always worth reading the thread from top to bottom

[Mooncrest]

The range of the 737-200 astounds me, even now. I remember Dan Air and Britannia, among others, used to send theirs from the UK to the more distant Greek Islands. Some family members flew from Manchester to Kos with Britannia in '86 - their ride was G-BADR, an early Advanced model for the airline with the relatively low-thrust engines.

[rog747]

The range of the 737-200 astounds me, even now. I remember Dan Air and Britannia, among others, used to send theirs from the UK to the more distant Greek Islands. Some family members flew from Manchester to Kos with Britannia in '86 - their ride was G-BADR, an early Advanced model for the airline with the relatively low-thrust engines.

All of Dan Air's 732's had -17 or -15 engines,
and Britannia's first group of ADV models delivered from 1973 (G-BAD G-BAZ and G-BEC series) had also -15 engines (some or all though may have had -9A's at first?)
Britannia did many upgrades to the 732 fleet.
Mey Air had -9A's. (more powerful)

What was astounding how both Laker and Cambrian managed a BAC 1-11 300/400 from LPL or MAN to LPA/TCI RHO and HER often non-stop both ways.

[ATNotts]

Somehow the 727 and 737 threads seem to have been mixed up here !

Sometimes all on the same series as loads rose and fell through the summer. Tarom seemed to enquire how many were booked and only send out an aircraft that was appropriate. Well into the 1980s you might even get an IL-18 turboprop for the first/last runs of the year.

We flew LGW / CND on a Tarom 154, but returned, much to my delight, two weeks later on an IL62, my only ever flight on one (I never got to fly on its cousin, or was it aunt, the VC10!). Obviously I can't make a comparison between the '62 and VC10 but I recall the IL62 being very smooth in flight, and had surprisingly pleasant interior décor which was in good nick. A much better machine from a passenger perspective than the TU154.

Apologies for thread drift!!

[Mooncrest]

All of Dan Air's 732's had -17 or -15 engines,
and Britannia's first group of ADV models delivered from 1973 (G-BAD G-BAZ and G-BEC series) had also -15 engines (some or all though may have had -9A's at first?)
Britannia did many upgrades to the 732 fleet.
Mey Air had -9A's. (more powerful)

What was astounding how both Laker and Cambrian managed a BAC 1-11 300/400 from LPL or MAN to LPA/TCI RHO and HER often non-stop both ways.

According to G-INFO, BADR had the 9A engines, whereas BADP had one 15 and one 15A. Does anyone know if it was possible to uprate the removed 9As to type 15 or 17, or even vice versa ? I know with at least the 737-300, the CFM56 can be altered from B1 to B2, which I think might be a reprogramming job rather than a mechanical one. But I'm no engineer so I'm probably wrong.

I never knew Tarom flew IL62s. The Boeing 707 was their long-haul ship.

[Flightrider]

Yes, you could upgrade engines. The initial four Britannia 737-200s were delivered with -9 engines and G-AVRN - the one which served for the longest with Britannia - was upgraded to -9A through time. If I remember rightly, one Dan-Air 737-200 flew for several years with a -15 engine on one side and a -17 on the other, although I'd imagine they would have had to treat that as a -15 aircraft for performance calculations.

For the range and capability, bear in mind that there have been many changes over years to standard passenger weights, the level of reserve fuel required to be carried and airfield performance safety margins. The regs still permit IT charter standard passenger weights to be differentiated from scheduled ones, but both sets of figures have gone up quite substantially in the last two decades. If you took yesterday's aircraft and applied today's performance rules to them, a lot of things that used to take place would either be impractical with a viable payload today or just wouldn't happen at all.

[treadigraph]

I never knew Tarom flew IL62s. The Boeing 707 was their long-haul ship.

They had five, pretty sure I saw them at Heathrow on occasion.

[WHBM]

They had five, pretty sure I saw them at Heathrow on occasion.
Tarom, strangely, bought 3 new 707s, 2 secondhand ones from Pan Am, and three original IL-62, all at the same time in 1973-75. Just a couple of years later when the substantially revised IL-62Mneo (:)) came along they got 2 of those as well. A surprisingly eclectic purchasing policy. Maybe their fleet planning director later went to Thai Airways. All of these lasted until after the fall of the socialist regime in the early 1990s. It was common for some to be leased out, as they seemed to have far too many for their needs. However, for this thread, they never got any 737-200s.

[rog747]

Tarom used almost anything on their IT charters IL-18, 1-11, IL-62, TU-154, and 707's to LGW, MAN, BHX, and LTN...Rather like JAT Charters used 707, 727, DC-9 etc

On the scheds into LHR again one saw many of Tarom types used over the years including 707's.

My last 737-200 flights were all from Mykonos to LGW I think, and they all stopped at ATH to fuel up and even cater - Caledonian and GB Airways Leisure flights,
plus a Britannia 732 on a 4 day jolly out to IBZ - was on an old one - single galley at front and a great Hot breakfast.
All of these were in the early 1990's.

Most memorable 737-200 flight -
Air Lanka 1980 CMB-Maldives-CMB on their then new once weekly flight to a tiny white coral strip now known as Male Velana International Airport (or the Heathrow of the Indian Ocean)
Flying low over the stunning blue atolls and tiny islands was amazing - Skipper was an Ozzie and let me sit in the flight deck for landing to this beautiful paradise.
Had 3 magical weeks on a tiny desert island in a thatched hut for USD15 Full Board per day...
Booked my flight with the lovely CMB town office manager lady for who had worked for BOAC & Air Ceylon (just changing to Air Lanka) and she gave me an ID50 firm staff travel to stay a week - I ended up staying 3...
Sitting on the beach one day I was startled by an LTU Tristar flying past the lagoon at around 500 feet buzzing the islands after take off going back to Germany.
Seems this was a favourite jaunt of LTU's to show off the islands to the passengers.
The LTU crew all stayed on Bandos where I visited for a day boat trip from my island.

[WHBM]

My last 737-200 flights
On reflection I think my last one was on Ryanair.

Remember a Prestwick-Stansted sector with them, very high frequency in the 1990s but now lost completely, with a Yugoslav skipper, who hand flew a hold in IMC approaching Stansted so precisely that 2 minutes later we banged through what I think was our own turbulence.

[Discorde]

Performance was limited on the early Britannia 732s (Basic airframe, -9 engines). For example LTN-CFU-LTN was often a 4-leg day (tech stopping VCE both ways). Two of these aircraft were convertible passenger/freight config. The strengthened floor and cargo door gubbins added an extra tonne to the empty weight so payload capability was inferior to the rest of the fleet. If memory serves:

Typical empty wt: 29T, convertibles (GAXNA & 'NB) 30T
Typical landing wt: 42T (130 pax)
Basic –9 max T/O wt: 49.4T (GAVRL & 'RM) or 53.0T, but sometimes reduced by factors such as runway length, air temp and barometric pressure

Max T/O wt for later Advanced -15 732s was 55.1T, greatly increasing range.

[thegypsy]

Yes your memory serves you right. I got landed with taking one of the B737 freighters the night of the hurricane that Michel Fish mentioned from EMA to AGP. And looking at charts a 80 it headwind meant we had stop for fuel.I elected to stop at LGW for a quick refuel as we had engineers there. Could not believe but they over fueled by 800 kgs so we had a huge delay and had to offload catering and bars.
Whilst all this was going on wind increased,temperature rise significantly pressure dropped like a stone and eventually we set off with a very tough turbulent flight.
On way back to EMA weather there 40kts down runway but LGW was unbelievable around 80kts from around 230degrees I seem to remember.

I wrote all this down on voyage report and could not believe later on Fleet Captain asking why the catering and bars were left off.!!!
I referred him to my report.

[pax britanica]

I used to go to Faro every summer from 1994-2001. Latter trips on (T) AP from LHR, one in Air Macao colours earlier on a variety of charters including Ambassador and Sabre . Having come back from 3 years in Stockholm, with lots of travel on pristine Scandi MD80s, the 737-200s from Gatwick were very shabby looking. On one trip- Sabre I think we sat by the wing leading edge, no slat extension before leaving gate, same during taxi, down to the country end of LGW same during holding point wait , same as we started taxying onto runway and I was getting really rather anxious when at last they appeared. I often wondered if it was an SOP with them , can't think why. or they just forgot. I felt very anxious as wife and children with me and was really close to sticking my hand up and saying -ER Miss...... I think this was actually my first trip on a real independent charter airline

Of all the parties liseted on thes eposts I recall BA Airtours 707 400 LHR-FAro out , shuttle configured Trident 3 back.
Out and back LHR-faro on BA Tristar
LGW_FAO Sabre/Ambassador out Monarch 757 back
LGW Montpellier Dan air Comet
ARN- Faro DC10 Sunair (SAS spin off)
LGW-Athens Laker BAC1-11 , along way on one of those .

Other than Faro I never went to any classic sunshine destination although some of these flights were certainly 'unsocial' hours and in the end we decided that a few extra pounds for LHR-Faro on AP at a decent time of day was worth the extra .

[turbine100]

European Aviation Air Charter Bournemouth had the 737 200 , perhaps late 90's / early 2000's.

[Mooncrest]

European Aviation Air Charter Bournemouth had the 737 200 , perhaps late 90's / early 2000's.

Mainly, if not wholly, ex-Sabena and Sobelair aircraft.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Were they the ones with a white fuselage and a red tail with white writing ? If so, I used to see them all around back then, no doubt doing ad-hoc substitution flights for other scheduled airlines.

[Quietplease]

Did a few holiday charters with BA 737-200 at LGW. The most memorable was a sub charter for Britannia. First flight of the ski season to Toulouse so a quick turnaround with round trip fuel and empty back to LGW .
Britannia station manager brings me the loadsheet and says we are all set to go .
Uneventful flight back. As we are heading away in the crew transport I looked back to see the loaders hard at work off loading lots of bags and skis. One could only guess at what went on at Toulouse as a 100 plus skiers waited in vain for their baggage.